The present invention relates to a print server and method for forwarding printing data in a wireless network.
Network printing enables users in locations that are geographically separate from each other and from their printing devices to print data for themselves and others. Print servers enable multiple clients to share one or more print devices. For a user to print a document, he has to locate a printer in a target location that supports the features necessary to produce the document. After such a printer is located, the user connects to it.
FIG. 1 illustrates a network printing architecture according to the related art. Network printing components include a print server spooler (not shown) on a Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 Print Server 130 and a client spooler 114 running on a Microsoft® Windows®-based Client (client computer) 110. The Microsoft® Windows®-based application 111 generates printable data. After generating an enhanced metafile (EMF), which is a data type used between a print client and a server, a graphics device interface (GDI) 112 releases console control. The EMF data is interpreted in the background on a spooler thread and sent to the printer driver 113, which communicates with print devices to generate an output from data supplied by the GDI 112. The client spooler 114 delivers print jobs from applications on the client computer 110 to the print server 130. The print server spooler manages the printing process, which includes retrieving the location of the correct printer driver, loading the driver, spooling high-level function calls into a print job, scheduling the print job for printing, etc. Through a print router, the print job will be routed to a local printer 140 which handles the print job. A remote print server 150 and remote printer 160 may also be connected to the print server 130. In a non-Microsoft® Windows®-based client 120, a non-Microsoft® Windows®-based application 121 and a client server communication protocol 122 generate and process the printing data, which is outputted to the printer server 130.
Printing with mobile stations, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular telephones, handheld computers, etc., can be problematic in a network environment. Mobile stations have a scaled-down operating system, which may not include a print function. Also, mobile stations have a limited memory space. For example, the Blackberry® 8700 from Research In Motion Limited has a 16 MB RAM and 64 MB flash memory. Due to their limitations, mobile stations do not always have built-in printing capabilities. Thus, printing documents from a mobile station is limited by the operating system and storage capacity of the mobile station. Accordingly, the formatting, storage and transmission of printing data are limited in mobile stations.